


The Impeccable

by Kwizjii



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: F/M, YouTube
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-26
Updated: 2014-08-14
Packaged: 2018-02-10 12:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2024931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kwizjii/pseuds/Kwizjii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Suzy's childhood, long-time friend and fellow YouTuber, Isabella moves back to LA, many fun and humorous events are going to follow. Join as friendships are formed with the Game Grumps and more as they live that YouTuber's life!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Junk in the Trunk!

**Author's Note:**

> So this chapter won't have so much happening but it's really just an introductory chapter so you can get a feel for how I'm writing and the story for my OC as well as her relationships with the grumps, that way you can skidaddle off if you don't like it :)  
> Next chapter will have more interactions I promise!

‘So that’s it, this is the last video you’ll see of me in this little room. I’m off to LA bitches! I’ll see you all again when I land, keep it Kwizical!’

And that was that, I shut off the video camera and quickly uploaded a mini vlog into my queued videos on youtube. Today was moving day and I was moving countries, so this could take a while. I mean, I had everything packed in boxes but there was the whole flight thing for seven hours and then waiting like a week for my furniture to arrive. So I was set up with the vitals ready to survive until I had everything ready, y’know, stuff like: Laptop, DS, iPod…Money, money was a vital. Oh and the camera just incase. I was staying with my friends when I landed until my home was more… useful, so my little backpack survival kit was a necessity to keep things productive during the moving process.  
You’re probably wondering who the said friend is, right? Of course it was none other than famous youtuber Motem3r, also known as Suzy! We’d been friends for years when we were little, then my Dad got a job over seas so we had to move. But now I was a big girl! And I was returning to live near my oldest and most dear friend! Now here’s the catch; she doesn’t know! I haven’t once mentioned in my videos where I’m moving to and that vlog I’d already recorded wouldn’t be up until after I see her. It’s crazy, I’ve kept the whole thing secret from her, planning with her Husband, Arin. He was kind enough to offer me stay with them until I had my house set up properly so I basically get to kick it with the Grumps, how cool is that? People would kill to be in my position but hey, I guess fate was kind to me, huh?  
Anyways, this whole thing was going to be a big surprise for Suzy and I was practically bouncing in my plane seat the entire way there. Granted I had woken up early that morning to catch my flight but not once did I sleep. I was too excited! When my plane finally landed I had to go through some painful visa business that took over and hour because I was coming to live in America. Poor Arin looked bored out of his mind when I finally emerged out of the terminal, dragging my suitcase behind me, his head was glued down as he stared at his phone, probably waiting for any updates on my whereabouts. Unfortunately if I were to have taken my phone out I’d probably have been tackled down before I could press the power button. I quietly tip-toed over to where Arin was sat and basically shoved my face in front of his face. “Hey stranger.” I grinned at him as he blinked to register who exactly was so close to him. Once he realized that I had finally arrived, he beamed an uplifting smile, bright enough to pull you out of any jetlag fueled sadness. He pulled me into a hug and took my carrying bag despite my objections of being capable of carrying it myself. After leading me to his car, shoving my suitcase and bags into the trunk and then climbing inside the passenger’s seat. We chatted the first twenty minutes of the ride about anything and everything and ended up putting on the Starbomb album, Arin rapping his part and me singing Danny’s bits. Anyone looking over to us whilst we were stopped at the traffic lights would’ve been worried but we were child friendly and spared rolling down the windows to blast out the Cd’s vulgarities.  
“Okay, so Suzy thinks I went to my Dad’s for the day. She might be home when we get there so I’ll leave the car first and check and if she is, then we should totally scare her!” he grinned, slapping lightly at my arm to express how excited he was.  
“Alright” I nodded, chuckling at him. “What should we do?”  
“Don’t shoot me down on this one, I think it’s great but… Like just round the corner from my house, you get out, we move yours stuff to the back seat and you climb in the trunk.” Arin saw I was about to object so he raised a finger to stop me, a stern yet playful look on his face. “I swear you’ll be in the trunk less than a minute!” he promised, holding out a pinkie finger looking super serious now. I rolled my eyes, connecting my little finger with his in trust of his promise.  
“Okay fine…” I sighed in defeat. It was a pretty funny plan. “But if Suzy ends up opening the trunk and I’ve suffocated, it only looks bad for you having a dead body in your trunk.” I snickered.  
Finally Arin pulled over and we started shifting things to the backseat and then I crawled in the trunk and Arin shut it down on me. We set off once more and I was already cooking in the back. Now I know how dogs feel…

Arin’s P.O.V.  
I pulled into the drive as fast as I could, practically diving out the car and leaping up the porch steps and into the house. I yelled at the top of my lungs for Suzy, sounding like I was about to declare someone dead and when she popped her head out of the kitchen, her face full of worry, it seemed she thought so too.  
“What’s wrong, babe?” she asked, her voice seeming off in the worry of things. Cant blame the girl though, I had just run in the house yelling for her when I was meant to be at my Dad’s for the day.  
“I just need you to help me carry some stuff in.” I nodded, looking in a real hurry. Suzy noticed such so followed me quickly out the front. “Can you get the stuff in the trunk, I’ll grab the stuff from the backseat.” I could hardly contain my grin watching Suzy lean to look at the backseat full of suitcases and bags, her face covered with confusion.  
“What is all this stuff, babe?” she frowned, edging closer to the trunk but not opening it yet. She spoke again in a stern voice; ‘You didn’t rob a bank did you?’  
“Nah, I’ll show you once we get inside.” I grinned, watching as she finally popped open the trunk of the car and screamed!  
“Shit, is she dead?” I asked, stumbling round the back of the car to where Suzy was now engulfing her dear friend in hug and they were both squee-ing at each other in really high pitched voices.  
I shook my head and left them to it, moving back round to the seats to grab the luggage whilst I let them start catching up, and allow Suzy the time to get over the initial shock of her closest friend appearing in the boot.

Normal P.O.V  
After calming down both Suzy, and myself, not to mention our screaming fest we’d got going on. We both grabbed my stuff from the car and headed inside. It seemed we’d attracted attention from our squeals of delight because as we entered, there were three curious faces all peering at us. I knew each one of them of course but never spoken to them so I allowed Arin to introduce them to me. “Izza, these are the rest of the Grumps” he began, pointing them out in turn with their names. “Barry, Dan and Ross.”  
I nodded to each of them, offering a smile and a little wave. It felt super awkward having all eyes on me and I was about to introduce myself but was stopped by Danny. “Dude, we know who you are. You’re THE Kwizjii!” he cried out, flailing his arms for emphasis.  
It’s true I was a popular YouTuber but nowhere near as cool as the grumps. I did a variety of videos from game reviews to make-up and fashion. I covered everything that I loved and took part in a lot of those tagged vlog things. Kwizjii was a name that had stuck with me during my MMO years, whenever I had to give a name to a character, that’s what I put. It also helped out for a clever slogan on my channel; ‘Keep it Kwizical’ I was proud of that one…  
“But you’re THE Danny Sexbang.” I retorted, grinning at him to which he nodded in agreement, pulling a smug face and an over-exaggerated seductive wink that Arin punched him for.  
“So Izza-fo-flizza will be staying with us for a while until her furniture and everything is sorted out.” Suzy announced, slinking and arm around my shoulder to give me a half hug.  
“My name is actually Isabella so feel free to twist that into whatever nickname you desire.” I added at the end of Suzy’s statement. I felt the need to tell them my real name- just incase. I rarely mentioned my real name on my channel. Not like it was super secret or anything but the majority of the time I just called myself Kwiz, like my fans.  
“Sure thing, Izza-flink.” Arin nodded. “I put everything in your room, feel free to get it as messy as you like, Suzy will talk you through laundry rules. Me and Dan gotta do some Grump stuff, sorry.”  
“Not to worry, I didn’t sleep on the plane so if you don’t mind, I’m going to have an afternoon nap?” I asked, tilting my head and glancing between everyone.  
“Of course, your room is right at the end.” Suzy smiled, gesturing down a hallway where whom I believe to be Mimi peeking out from behind a corner. “Have a nice nap, I’ll wake you before I start on dinner.” She added quickly before disappearing off somewhere.  
I entered my temporary room and instantly flopped my body on to the bed, not even bothering to take my shoes off. I was already off and away to dreamland.


	2. Unpopular Opinions

I was stirred from my sleep from light nudges to my shoulder. I uttered out an ’uuurhhmm’ all majestic like, stretching my body out on the bed and sighing.   
“Still as graceful as ever~” Suzy chimed, her hands on her hips as she stood in the room observing my awakening.  
“You know it.” I grunted out, followed by a yawn. I stood and walked over to Suzy, slinking my arm over her shoulder as we walked out of the bedroom. “So what are we making for dinner?”  
“Oh no-“ Suzy ducked out of my arm, raising a finger to object. “You’re the guest here, I cook for YOU.” She nodded firmly, followed by starting to shove me towards the living room. “You’re going to sit with the guys and play some games whilst me and Arin start on cooking.” She stated before shoving me down on to the sofa next to Barry who had been watching the whole thing in amusement.  
Suzy soon shot off into the kitchen to start prepping the food with Arin so that left me with Barry and Danny. Ross had already gone home it seemed, unless he was downstairs doing some work in the basement.  
“So what we doing, boys?” I piped up, shuffling on the sofa to look at them both. “Movies or games?” I smiled, tilting my head.  
“We could play some Mario Kart?” Dan suggested, earning a nod from Barry and a scrunched up face of disgust from me.   
“Confession; I don’t like Mario.” I stated blankly only to be given looks of horror from Danny and Barry. I simply shrugged their reactions off, starting to ponder what else we could play but it seemed the boys were now on some sort of detective case, trying to figure out why I didn’t like Mario.   
“HOW can you not like Mario?” Barry gasped, putting a hand on his heart in mocking terror.  
“Yeah, Mario is the tits and balls…. And vaginas.” Danny agreed, nodding rapidly.   
“I don’t know, I just never liked it. I never played it when I was little. First console I got was a Dreamcast, I just played Sonic Adventures and Crazy taxi until I upgraded to a playstation. See I never owned a Nintendo console until I was a teenager and I just played pokemon then.”   
After a few seconds of silence when I stopped talking, Danny spoke in a serious and firm tone; ‘We need to bathe you in the Grump room.’  
“What?” I blinked, staring at him.  
“The grump room…” Barry continued, speaking in a dramatic tone and pointing slowly towards the door where they usually played games for the show. I laughed a little, watching as they both started pointing at it and chatting ‘Grump Room’ over and over. This caused Suzy to poke her head out of the kitchen, staring at the guys in confusion, then to me for an explanation. I just shrugged and said, “I need to be baptized apparently.” Obviously that wasn’t the answer Suzy was looking for so she just nodded slowly and retreated back into the kitchen.   
“In all seriousness, whilst you’re staying here, we gotta get you playing all consoles.” Barry grinned.  
“Oh yeah we could help you film like some playthroughs. ‘Kwizical trip through History’ or some shit.” Danny laughed. “But for now, you’re playing Mario.” He added at the end, sounding like a scolding father now.  
“But I don’t even know how to play it~” I whined out, flailing my body like I was a stropping child.   
“But it’s EASY.” Barry replied with an equally whiny tone whilst he set up the Wii U and offered me a controller.  
I sighed out, peering down at the controller in my hands and readied myself to get slayed on Mario Kart. The match began, I’d chosen Princess Daisy and I was already failing as the guys shot off in front of me whilst I was still sat at the starting line. “Will you tell me how to GO? Daisy bitch wont move her skanky ass!”  
“You just stalled, it happens.” Danny laughed at my frustration whilst I finally set off like a mile behind them.   
“Okay so I got a thingy, how do I use it?” I asked, waving my controller in Barry’s face. He leaned away, just simply so he could continue steering Yoshi along the course but laughed, answering my question and leaving me to press it stupidly without being near someone I could use it on. My item was a bomb, so I just threw it in front of me and blew myself up. “Damn it!” I cried out at my own misfortune. “Dumbass Daisy skank, don’t blow yourself!”  
Danny burst out laughing as I continued ranting and raving at everything I did wrong, blaming it on Daisy when of course, it was my fault. “Wow, Izz.” He began. “You’re more grump than grump.”   
“No I’m just grump at this stupid ass Daisy bitch.” I huffed out, not taking my eyes off the screen. “How do you do the turny-thing? You’re shooting round the corners!”  
“Hold down that button there.” Barry instructed, leaning over to tap at a button on my controller. Me being the idiot I was though, sensed someone coming closer to me and turned my head out of instinct and bonked it with Barry’s. “Ow.” He laughed out.  
“Sorry!” I grinned, patting at his head, to which I received a sympathy pout. “Okay, so I’m demanding a rematch because this was totally unfair, you guys started without telling me how to do the things and now I have head trauma.”  
“Yeah me too.” Whined Barry, rubbing at the sore spot on his head.  
“You’re only saying that because I won.” Laughed Danny, pulling off a victory fist pump in the air.  
“Oh you won by default, don’t lie to yourself.” Barry remarked with a smirk, going through the options to start up a new race. In the end I came second behind Barry, Dan now in last place so it seemed our point was proven.   
“This is some bull.” Danny groaned out when he lost the second time in a row. “I’m going to bathroom.” He declared, stomping out of the room over-dramatically but paused as he got to the doorway. “…To take a shiiiiit.”  
“Uh oh, he’s taking a protest poop.” Barry snickered, earning a giggle from me.  
“That’s a thing he does?” I quirked, smiling like an idiot whilst Barry and Danny started some poop related bicker from down the hallway at each other.   
“That’s totally a thing he does.” Barry nodded, receiving some shouts of denial from the bathroom. He shook his head, still laughing and moved over to the TV and switched off the console. “Let’s just kill time on Netflix until dinner.” Barry, sitting back down on the couch and starting to flick through the films and turning to me, “Any preferences?”  
“Anything that’s not horror.” I smiled awkwardly. “I willingly sit through sharktopus, so you don’t have to worry about it being shit.” I added with a laugh.  
“You don’t like Mario… you don’t like horror films.” Barry began to list on his fingers. “Next you’ll tell me you don’t cry and Marley and Me.”  
“Oh fuck no, I cry like a baby.” I laughed out. “Like full blown bawling into a pillow to muffle my whailing.”  
“N’awwww.” Barry cooed, wrapping an arm around me for a side hug whilst I pretend to start weeping. “I promise I wont make you watch that then” he smiled. “But seriously, what else do you hate that’s quite popular.”  
“Oh y’know, I’ve always wanted to do an unpopular opinion vlog but I was worried that I’d be booed out of youtube.” I grinned.  
“That bad?” Barry quirked a brow, looking just a little bit concerned.  
“I… don’t like spicy food?” I shrugged, taking to fidgeting with my thumbs and laughing out awkwardly.  
Barry gasped, “Not even Mexican food?”  
I shook my head. “Especially Mexican food.”  
Barry blinked, staring at me like I was some sort of alien now before speaking up again. “Dare I ask what else?”  
“It’s not hate, but it’s an unpopular opinion I think…” I began before shyly muttering out; ‘I actually like James Cameron’s Avatar movie.’  
“Suzy!” Barry shouting out as soon as I said that, “Your friend is broken!” he added whilst knocking on my head lightly like it was a door. “It’s all hollow in there.”  
Suzy appeared from out of the kitchen, tilting her head in question. “Why is she broken?”  
“She’s sharing her unpopular opinions.” Barry replied grimly.  
“Oh dear” Suzy responded with equal distaste, which caused me to whine out in defense of the two of them mocking my preferences. “Anyways, dinners nearly ready. Barry, can you set the table?”  
Barry nodded, standing up and offering the remote to me with a smile. “Pick something we can all watch after dinner.”   
“You do realize you’ve just doomed us all.” Suzy heckled from in the kitchen, to which I pulled an evil smirk.  
“Better go set the table, Barry~” I teased before turning my attention to the TV to pick something out most horrible for the gang to suffer through.


	3. Beards and Fros

My first meal with the grumps was lovely. Suzy and Arin had cooked up a pasta bake dish especially for me seeing as I was such the pasta enthusiast and we sat round this big table and it felt… surreal. I’d lived alone for a long time in England now so all my meals were just sat in front of the TV, eating from a tray on my lap. So this whole scene made me feel like I was part of a family again.  
After we'd finished dinner, I demanded that I help do the washing up and after nagging Suzy over and over, she finally caved and let me... Under one condition: that I didn't do it alone. So Barry and me started on the washing up together whilst Dan and Arin went and recorded a few more episodes of Game Grumps. I was doing the washing and Barry, the drying. We started out, as any sane people doing the washing up would be but it soon turned to talk and talking to mocking each other. Barry was just winding me up about my weird personal tastes and I took to flicking water from my hands in his face.   
“Arrgghhh!” he cried out, covering his face with his hands. “I’m melting!” he wailed, curling in on himself and crumbling halfway down to the floor before abruptly standing straight again and declaring it a ‘false alarm’. I let out a laugh as he resumed to drying some plates, too distracted yet to notice I was forming a foam beard on my chin.   
“What do you think?” I asked, turning me head to face him fully, now flashing off my amazing foam beard. “Could rival your face fuzz, huh?”  
Barry snickered, sending a flat palm to my face slowly to mush and ruin my precious beard. I began spitting and huffing out as soap bubbles went on my lips, making me puff some of the bubbles at Barry who, in turn, starting making noises of disgust too. Obviously we were both making loud enough worrying noises because Suzy soon appeared into the kitchen, smirking. “I seriously trusted you to do the dishes without getting soap everywhere… You were doing the soap beard weren’t you?” she asked, folding her arms with a smirk though I could see she was partially unimpressed by the soapy mess we had created. “Just go get changed, we’re having a onesie movie night. Barry, show her where all our onesies are.” She requested, gesturing for us to both leave the kitchen so she could finish off our mayhem.   
“Come on” Barry instructed with a grin, leading me to Arin and Suzy’s room but I stopped him before such.  
“Its okay,” I began, tapping his shoulder. “I actually have my own onesie in my suitcase.”   
“Oh, well is it an animal with ears and a tail?” Barry quirked, tilting his head. “Because those are the only onesies we go by in the grump house.” He stated as if it were law.  
This earned a giggle from me and I nodded. “Yes, I have a Spyro onesie.” I announced, putting my hands on my hips and striking a proud pose.   
“Well you’ve officially topped all the onesies we had to offer,” Barry laughed out, scratching at his face.  
“All?” I blinked. “How many do you have?”   
“At least ten.” He grinned. “But none of them beat your Spyro onesie.”  
“Oh I don’t know…” I drawled out, “Spyro’s face looks real durpy”  
“Well then,” Barry smirked. “Best go get that durpy onesie then, I wanna see how cute you look in it” he stated before coughing a bit, going a little wide eyed. “I mean, y’know… Onesies are all cute.” He practically mumbled out before declaring he was going to get changed, leaving me in the hallway to giggle at how embarrassed he’d gotten over that.  
I wandered off to my room to change into my onesie. It was a bit too big for me but there was a sale and my size had sold out. It was no big deal, all that it meant was I sometimes stumbled over the tail. Emerging out of my room, I headed towards the living room to find Danny and Arin already sat on the couch dressed in onesies whilst Suzy was stood away in another room, talking on the phone.  
“Oh hey, it’s Spyro.” Arin smiled, looking amazed by my attire. He was dressed in a dinosaur onesie I’d seen featured in one of the Ninja Sex Party music videos, which made me laugh and cause Arin to quirk a brow.   
“I think we all know where I’ve seen that onesie before, Arin.” I remarked, sitting down on the couch. Arin started grinning and Dan declared a ‘dragon dance’ and the both of them stood up and performed the little dance from the video whilst I sat nodding in approval. Barry walked into the room whilst the two of them were dancing, dressed in a unicorn onesie.  
“The infamous Barrycorn steed!” Danny cried out, then trying to tackle Barry down so he could mount him. Arin joined in to help bring Barry down to the ground and then they both sat on him whilst he grunted out in pain.  
“That poor Barrycorn” I sighed out, shaking my head like a disapproving mother. “Come sit on the sofa and watch the amazing film I’ve picked out.” I smirked, causing Arin to go wide-eyed with worry.   
“Oh no…” he began. “You’ve picked something awful haven’t you?”  
“Oh yes.” I nodded, flashing off an evil grin, patting the sofa. “Lets all watch the BEST film ever… The Bratz movie~”  
“Nooooooo-…” Danny cried out, dropping to his knees on the floor. “Why have you forsaken us!?” he shouted up at the ceiling, probably addressing God.   
Suzy poked her head in the room, phone pressed against her ear, putting a finger on her lips and narrowed her eyes at Dan who abruptly stood and sat on the couch quietly.   
“You want us to wait for you, Suzy?” I asked, just above a whisper. She simply shook her head, pointing between us and the TV- giving a thumbs up. We took that as a signal to start without her but who could blame her? She wasn’t missing much. “Okay, so lets get started.” I grinned, pressing play on the remote.  
Throughout the whole film, the guys kept putting on spoilt rich girl accents and commenting on whatever was happening being ‘totally super serious’. Eventually Suzy joined us in a kitty onesie, taking seat next to Arin, forcing us to budge up a bit more. I was now sandwiched between Barry and Dan and wiggling uncomfortably. “Ugh, you’re crushing me, fatties!” I grunted out, shoving at Danny who was in the middle of me and Arin, causing a sort of domino squish effect.   
“Gahh-… stop shoving me!” Danny whined, wriggling out from the sofa and sitting on the floor in front of us instead. All of us adjusted out on the sofa now that we had more room. I couldn’t resist now that I was sat directly behind Dan.  
“Hey Dan, can I ruffle your hair? It looks amazing.”   
“Go for it” he laughed out. “Though you might lose your hands in there,” he added whilst shuffling to sit up so I had easier access. So I started playing with his hair, overly amazed by the mass of wild hair that sat on his head. It was true, my hands got lost in his hair, fingers stuck in the tangles of the mighty jewfro. “Hey Dan?” I spoke up, earning a simple ‘yeah?’ in return. “How do I get my hands free without ripping out hair?”   
He laughed out a bit and replied; “That’s the thing… You don’t!” Dan started some evil laugh that followed his statement. “Nah but seriously, just pull out.”  
“That’s what she said.” Arin replied with a stupid grin on his face.  
“Are you sure you’re not hair-sore?” I asked, trying to ignore the cheesy line from Arin.   
“Nope, just pull at it.” Dan replied. “Or you could totally just keep your hands in there-..”  
“That’s what she said!” Arin added in again, looking even more pleased with himself.  
“Dude!” Dan snorted a bit, trying to stifle his laughs. I was gone by now, just giggling to myself over the whole situation whilst trying to pull my hands free from Dan’s hair. “Ow… I said I wasn’t hair-sore, it doesn’t mean you can just yank at it!” he whined.  
“Oh shush, I’m free now.” I said, patting at his head. “It was an amazing experience though.” I added, giving him a thumbs up.  
“Don’t you know it.” He smirked. “You got to touch the Sexbang jewfro.”  
“And I feel honored.” I nodded. “Now all I need to do is touch Barry’s beard, run my hands over Arin’s collection of chins and master Suzy’s eyeliner skills and I’ll of absorbed all your powers and be UNSTOPPABLE!”  
“What about Ross’ powers? What would you touch to absorb his?” Arin asked, stroking at his chin.  
“His thongs.” Barry nodded, causing me to quirk a brow in confusion.  
“…Thongs?” I repeated back to him, almost questioning if he’d spoke the right word.  
“It’s what Ross calls flip-flops.” He replied, shaking his head as if to say ‘I know right?’  
“I’ll remember that one,” I nodded.  
“Okay, so Izza-paz-pow.” Suzy started, sitting up to face me properly. “If you’re up for it tomorrow, we can all go out. It’ll be my own free day as I’ve got some bug pinning stuff coming up this week so I’ll be super busy. I really want like a whole day for you to spend with us.”  
“Well yeah, I don’t mind that you’ll be busy. Whatever you wanna do tomorrow, I’m down for. “ I shrugged. “But I do need some one on one time with you at some point, Suzy,” I stated, pointing my finger all-demanding like at her. “I threw out a lot of my clothes so I’ll need your guidance.”  
“Well you come to the right person.” She replied, pulling a smug pose jokingly. “Not to worry, I’ll definitely find time for shopping for you.” She winked. “So for tomorrow, what should we do…?”


	4. Getting Wet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter may be a little shorter than usual? It's been two whole days since I posted and I wanted to get this out before I had to leave and I really wanted to give you guys something today! Enjoy, feedback is always appreciated!

We’d agreed on going to a theme park that night. Suzy had texted Holly to see if her and Ross could go and she said yes, so it was going to be one heck of a day no doubt. I woke up the next morning and felt the jetlag had hit me hard at last; my bodyclock was all over the place. I looked over at my phone and saw the time was already twelve in the afternoon. I groaned out, whacking my head with my phone and got out of bed reluctantly. I was still dressed in my onesie, hair no doubt sticking out in all directions and probably complete with bags under my eyes. All in all, I looked nowhere near ready to go out but apparently everyone else was as I found out when I left my room in search of a belated breakfast. Holly and Ross were already here and waiting, everyone was just goofing off playing games and chatting away as I came round the corner and then all eyes were on me.  
“Morning sleepyhead.” Suzy chimed, standing up to engulf me in a hug. “You look dead” she laughed softly. “You want some brunch?”  
I nodded slowly, yawning as we wandered into the kitchen. “Some brunchy coffee would be good too,” I sighed out, rubbing my eyes.  
“Oooh~” Suzy pulled a wincing face; I was now bracing myself for bad news. “We don’t actually have any coffee, I’m sorry! We only have tea…”  
“It’s okay,” I smiled. “Do you mind if I take a shower?”  
“Sure, it’s through our bedroom,” she nodded, leading me through the house and to the bathroom. “If you want, you can get changed in here. I’ll make sure no-one goes in.” Suzy offered a reassuring nod. “Go get your clothes and make you some quick brunch, want omelets?”  
“With cheese, please!” I called out as I went to my room to grab some fresh clothes and then head back to the bathroom. I was right; I did look like crap when I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. Let’s hope those aqua drops would help my case today; I was going to need it.  
A good ten minutes later I was out of the shower and feeling fresh! I was getting dressed and applying some make-up in Suzy’s mirror when I soft knock at the door occurred. “Come in~” I hollered, turning to face the doorway. Barry poked his head, smiling widely with a starbucks in hand.  
“I heard you needed a little pick-me-up.” He sing-sang, coming over to give me the drink. “I remembered from one of your vlogs you talked about much you loved caramel Frappuccino’s so…” Barry trailed off, looking a little awkward but smiling all the same.  
“You watch my show?” I chuckled softly, perking an eyebrow up at him.  
“Well yeah, Suzy always went on and on about you and how funny you were…” he replied, scratching the back of his neck.  
“And you remembered a specific video where I briefly talked about Starbucks.” I nodded, looking impressed. “Good memory on you.”  
“Hah, thanks,” he smiled sheepishly at the floor. “Well everyone is ready to go when you are, I’ll let you finish up the uh… face-… stuff.”  
I laughed a little, giving him a thumbs up as he left the room. “I’ll get right on that face stuff, thanks for the coffee. You’re a star!”  
I quickly finished off my make-up, gathering together my stuff and nipping over to my room to grab my belongings, all whilst taking much needed sips of my Frappuccino. I emerged out of my room, ready to go and wandered into the living room where Suzy greeted me with a plate of omelets. “Hurry and wolf those down so we can set off” she instructed, or more so- ordered me to. I did so as requested ever-so-ladylike as it was gone in three seconds leaving everyone to blink in confusion.  
“Where’d the food go?” Danny asked, followed by a little laugh. “I blinked and missed it.”  
Everyone started ushering out the house and into their respected vehicles as quickly placed my plate in the sink and hurried out with my drink in hand. I went in Suzy’s car with her, Arin and Barry whilst Danny with Ross and Holly. It took us about forty minutes to get to the place but the entire journey was kept fun with Arin’s constant jokes and then of course… the grape. Barry just HAD to bring it up so now Arin was going on and on about ‘getting the grape off the ground’. It was driving Suzy insane but Barry and me were just sat in the back giggling like idiots over the whole situation. Once we pulled into the parking lot, we saw the others had already arrived and Ross was now pacing beside our car, sticking half his body through the passenger seat window to attack Arin. All anyone could hear in the parking lot would be high-pitched screams and Suzy shouting in a road rage mode. Enough to make anyone worried. When we actually parked up, the stupid attacks continued, not allowing Arin to actually get out of the car so Barry and me just quietly slinked away out of the back and left those two to it. It was an array of slaps and girlish shrieks until Dan intervened, pulling Ross away from the car. All that happened when Arin got out of the car was; him now going for a full-blown tackle to Ross. It was a good job we were parked quite far away from the park entrance or we would never of made it past the gate.  
Suzy came over to link my arm, leading me towards the entrance with Holly and Barry. “Come along, Izzums. Let’s leave the children.” She smiled, turning to look back at the guys as they continued going slaphappy. “We’ll just leave them there”  
“Don’t they need a water bowl though?” I asked, smirking. “I thought they’re meant to be kept on a leash and in the shade?”  
“Hey~” whined Dan as he’d now joined behind us followed by Arin and Ross. “We’re not dogs.” He added in his defense, moving to slink his arm around my shoulder. “I don’t know if you knew this but… I’m only involved with the word dog in the bedroom.”  
I burst out laughing, nodding along. “Oh of course.” I agreed. “I expect nothing else from Dr. Sexbang.”  
Dan just continued on grinning, keeping his arm around me as we queued up for tickets. “Just picture this… You, me and only the finest Griffon feathers to cover our bodies.” He gave me a really obvious slow motion wink, to which I returned with equal stupidity.  
“Dan, let her at least be in the country for two days without you putting the moves on her.” Arin chimed, pulling Dan away who just blew me a kiss as he was dragged away. I rose up my hand, pretending to catch it and holding it to my heart.  
Once we got in the park, the guys were quick to declare we were going to get on the biggest roller coaster there. I inwardly groaned as we made our way there, trying not to show my distaste for the idea but Barry noticed it asking if I were okay. I shook my head, basically whispering; “Confession time: I don’t like roller coasters…”  
“How can you not like roller coasters?” he gasped, keeping his voice down so we wouldn’t attract attention from the others and have them all on my case. “Is it the heights?”  
“No.” I shook my head again. “I just… never went on them. My family never took me on them when I was younger seeing as none of them liked roller coasters either so I just… never had the guts to.”  
“Well you’re with us all?” he quirked. “Doesn’t that make you feel better about it?”  
“Not really…” I pulled a grimacing face as we neared the entrance to the queue for the huge roller coaster, looking up at the structure of it. Lots of loop-de-loops and sudden drops… Great. I guess Barry noticed the obvious discomfort I was having just from looking at the thing because he spoke up, grabbing everyone’s attention.  
“Guys, me and Izzy are going sit this one out. I’m not feeling too good and Izzy has still got food in her stomach not fully digested.” He nodded to me and I confirmed his statement with a sheepish smile.  
“You guys go on ahead, I’ll be up for it later. I don’t wanna hurl!” I added, receiving some worrying glances follow by nods of agreement. The group gave their concerns to Barry, wishing he felt better soon and waving goodbye to us as they went to queue up for the ride. I turned my attention back to Barry, smiling shyly. “You didn’t have to do that, y’know”  
“Oh but I did.” He objected, raising a finger. “We’re going to go find a smaller ride, see if you feel more confident, hmm?”  
“Alright…” I smiled, seeming to feel a bit more confident now. “I think it was the idea of going upside down that freaked me.”  
“So what rides DID you go on with your family at parks?” he asked as we walked through the park, weaving in between crowds every now and then. “You didn’t just walk around did you?”  
I laughed a little, shaking my head. “No, we were fans of the water rides. I can’t tell you how many times we went on that Splash Mountain ride at Disney.”  
“You went to Disney and only went on water rides…” he asked, looking shocked. “Please tell me you went on Thunder Mountain?”  
“Nope.” I shook my head, followed by a laugh at the expression of horror on his face. “Don’t judge! I was little and if my family weren’t going to get on, neither was I!”  
“Alright, alright.” He held his hands up in defense. “But we seriously need to fix this. Coasters are THE best.”  
“Nu-uh! Water rides at the bees knees!” I defended. “The Popeye ride at the Universal Park is my life! But I will never understand people who wear those ponchos to stop themselves getting wet! It’s a water ride, you go on to get wet!”  
“So you enjoy getting wet…” Barry began but went wide-eyed. “Oh no-…”  
“Did you just ask me if I like getting wet?” I laughed out, losing myself to a fit of giggles.  
“No-… No I didn’t. Oh jeez…” he sighed out, covering his face in embarrassment to which I just laughed more.  
“You’ve really got a way with words, haven’t you?” I mused, wiping away tears that had formed in my eyes.  
“Shut up.” He groaned, though laughing along with me. “So how about that ride there?”


	5. Life is a roller coaster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, you guys are lucky for this one. Somehow spending the day at the gym and physically draining myself kick-started a chapter out of nowhere. This one has a bit of drama in it, OooooOOoOO. Hope you like it, I know I enjoyed writing it.

We both lined up for some ride that was much smaller in scale. It was one of those wooden and western styled rides and absolutely no upside-down bits. I still felt a bit jittery as we lined up to which Barry would give me reassuring smiles and pep talks. Finally we arrived at the front of the line and climbed into the two-seater carts all lined up in a row and braced ourselves with these locked in bars across our laps. I of course was gripping so tight on the bar that my knuckles were going white. The ride shot off round the corner, gaining speed incredibly fast and zipping over I small bump in the tracks before going flying round a corner. I kept making minor squeaking noises of partial distress but mostly I felt giddy from a minor adrenaline rush. When the ride finally rounded to a stop I was just laughing wildly with Barry laughing along with me.  
“Izza?” he grinned, looking to me as the cart was still pulling into the boarding station.  
“Yeah?” I gasped out, practically bouncing in my seat.  
“Can I have my hand back?” he mused, nodding down at where my hand lay gripped tightly on his which was still attached to the bar.  
“Oh, sorry!” I laughed nervously, releasing my grip from his hand and climbing off the ride. As we rounded the corner of the exit path, leading back to the entrance, we ran into some familiar faces…  
“Well, well, well…” Arin hummed in amusement. “Look, if you guys wanted some alone time you could’ve just said” he smirked.  
“No!” we both blurted out at the same time, blush rising in both our cheeks.  
“I was just-…” “He was saying-…” “I mean we were-…”  
It was just a jumble of both our protests with some ‘nu-uhs’ in response from the group, now hell-bent of teasing us. I sighed out, figuring I’d have to tell them my silly shameful secret. “Guys, guys! I’m-… I’ve never been on a roller coaster before that one I was just on…” I admitted in defeat of their pestering. I felt the need to set the record straight at least for Barry’s sake who was still bright red and by the looks of it, far too introvert to a get word in. I also had I feeling he wouldn’t blurt out my little secret, even if it did mean people would tease him.  
“Barry was helping me get used to them with a smaller one first by easing into it. I’ve literally never got on a roller coaster before.”  
“For serious?” Ross asked, mouth agape in disbelief. I nodded to him, feeling stupid and now a shyness creeping over me.   
“Awww babe.” Suzy cooed, coming over to engulf me in a hug. When she pulled away she turned to Barry, smiling wide. “Thank you for looking after her, Barry.” She said before turning back to me, frowning softly. “You could’ve told us you know…”  
“I know.” I sighed out. “But you’d planned this for me and I know if you’d known that I didn’t want to get on you’d want to stick with me and miss out on some fun rides.” I shrugged, trying to reassure her it was okay. This day wasn’t just about me; I wasn’t about to ruin anybody’s good time. “It felt good though, I recon I could try out a bigger ride”  
“Ooh what about that one, there?” Danny asked, pointing excitedly like a child. I turned my attention over to the ride he was looking at and tilted my head, analyzing the roller coaster. It looked fine, no loop-de-loops only looking a bit higher than the last ride and probably faster but I had this adrenaline kicking in that just made me go for it.  
“Heck yeah!” I cried out, causing Dan to grab me by the hand and drag me with equal enthusiasm, shouting over his shoulder to the rest of the group; ‘Race you there!’  
We got to the queue way before the others seeing as we’d decided to run the way there. Obviously the rest of them didn’t feel like running because we saw them lined up far behind us, round a corner. We waved at them like idiots and Arin pulled some neck-slitting action and a death stare to Dan I guess. Of course I knew it was a playful gesture but people looking between us were deeply concerned. Dan and me got to the ride, climbing in and chatting away, bouncing in our seats like giddy children. We were fine up until the secure bars came down over our shoulders where conversation went dead and my heart started to race. “Dan, why are they putting these down?” I asked nervously. “Dan, they only have these for rides that go upside-…”  
The ride shot off incredibly fast, causing me to scream out the last part of the sentence. “Oh my god! ~” Danny screamed out but his was more in enjoyment whereas my screams were in terror, my eyes squeezed shut, refusing to even find out which way up I currently was. My stomach surely let me know I was flying in every direction by the flips it was doing right now.   
“I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill you…” I kept chanting out, louder and louder with the more distress I was put under.  
“I’m so sorry!” Dan cried out, sounding more amused than concerned right now.  
The ride felt like forever but really it was hardly two minutes before we were coming to a stop. Dan was still laughing, full of enjoyment from that ride but I on the other hand was frozen in place, truly traumatized from the experience. He helped me off the ride and began to take genuine concern as we walked away from the ride and I still hadn’t cracked a smile. I didn’t feel good at all…  
“Izz?” he asked cautiously, leaning in front of me to catch my attention. “Izz, are you okay?”  
I simply shook my head, gripping onto his shoulder for balance and humming out a little in distress.   
“Okay, it’s alright. Just keep hold of me, we’ll take it slow over to those benches, yeah?” he spoke in a soothing voice, leading me along the path very slowly. My legs felt wobbly, my head was clearly not on my shoulders right now and I could barely find the strength to keep hold of Dan’s shoulder for stabilization. We got to the benches and Dan carefully set me down, quickly crouching down in front of me. He raised his hand up to place a palm against my forehead, frowning immediately after. “You’re really pale, Izz and you feel really hot.” He spoke with worry, sparking of my own worries. “I’m really sorry, Izz. I had no idea that it would take us upside down, I’m really, really sorry!”  
I lazily waved a hand in dismiss of it. “Mm, it’s not your fault” I mumbled out quietly. “We didn’t know… It’s alright.”  
“I’m going to grab you a cold drink as soon as the guys get here, I just don’t want to leave you on your own right now.” He spoke, offering me looks of worry and sympathy. “You also can totally kill me.” He smiled to me, trying to lift my spirits up. I smiled softly to him. “Just make sure you film it for Ninja Brian’s enjoyment.” He added, his smile growing wider knowing I was in good enough spirits to smile with him.  
I saw the rest of the group hurrying round the corner, already full of worry for me based on their own experiences. Once they spotted me already being tended to, they hurried up to us even more. “Oh god, Izzums. Are you okay?” Suzy cried out, quickly crouching down next to me, checking my temperature again and also stating I looked really pale.  
“I was waiting until you guys got here so I could go get a drink for her.” Dan spoke to them, standing up and going to walk off before Suzy said for him to get me something plain to eat like some chips. He nodded, quickly taking off to find a food stand whilst everyone stayed gathered round me, full of worry.  
“We should’ve checked it out more, maybe asked a member of staff before you got on…” Barry mumbled, looking like it was his fault. Bless him.  
I shook my head, offering him a weak smile. “It was my fault” I spoke up weakly. “I shot off with Dan without checking. I’m the dumby.”   
Barry crouched down in front of me and then, fully sat down on the ground whilst Suzy took seat on the bench next to me. “Don’t crowd up too much.” Suzy spoke, gesturing to the other benches next to us. “She needs the fresh air, the lack of motion and some nutrients in her.”  
Dan soon arrived back with a cool bottle of water and a packet of chips for me, offering them out for me… Only I didn’t take them. My arms felt so limp I couldn’t even lift them now, which caused more worried expressions from the group. Suzy took the drink from Dan and Barry, the chips, whilst Suzy leaned me back and held the drink to my lips. I felt like an idiot the way I was being catered to right now but there was no other option, I felt completely paralyzed just sat there on that bench. I could barely move a muscle, completely drained of all energy.   
“Maybe we should get her home.” Holly suggested, looking over at the situation. I shook my head slowly in protest, clumsily reaching towards Barry for the chips.  
“I think she just needs some more food in her. She only got some omelets really quickly for lunch and she’s not used to this heat.” Suzy spoke out; keeping hold of me to make sure I didn’t slink off the bench completely when I leaned forward for the chips. Barry just took to feeding me chip my chip, yet again making me feel like a baby.   
“I’ll be good. Don’t let me ruin the day for you all.” I spoke up between munching my chips only to have Suzy scoff and roll her eyes.  
“The day is ruined if we’re dragging you round if you’re not well. I’d feel awful for doing that.” Suzy said, getting nods of agreement from the group.  
I sighed out in defeat, already knowing we’d be going home any minute. I wasn’t about to improve. Barry stood up, offering the bag of chips to Suzy and said he’d be right back, leaving Suzy to offer out chips and little sips of water to me. All in all I felt pretty crap, putting a real downer on the day. “Really, I don’t mind going home but I’d hope that some of you would stay and enjoy the day…” I sighed out, still searching for the strength to lift my arms just a bit, but to no such luck.  
“Well if one of us drove you home, two would still have to go with because without the car, they wouldn’t be able to get home.” Suzy frowned, knowing I really didn’t want to cut the day short for anyone but it was looking that way unfortunately.  
Barry returned with some ice wrapped up in paper towels, crouching down in front of me and pressing it softly to my forehead causing me to sigh out in content.   
“Can you walk, Izza?” Suzy asked, standing up and offering me her hand, Barry soon shifting out the way, holding onto the ice pack for now. I shook my head in shame, I felt as limp as a jellyfish.  
“Help her onto my back.” Danny stated, bending down in front of me, back towards me as I was lifted to my feet and then slunk over Dan’s back, him taking grip of my legs whilst my arms were resting over his shoulders. The whole group was coming home; it was decided as we made our way back to the car park. My dizziness was returned as we kept moving along the paths of the amusement park, feeling like I was dipping in and out of consciousness. I was pretty much out of it as I was helped into the back of the car, instantly slinking down to lie across the backseat. The last thing I heard before completely blacking out was some raised voices from the group; some sort of argument had sparked because of me… great.


	6. Tours and Tickles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy poop this was a long one. Hope it enjoyable!

I woke up feeling dazed and confused- or more so dazed and confused than normal. I was lay down in my bed back at Suzy’s house and now left to recollect my memories of the day gone by. I’d gotten ridiculously sick after riding a roller coaster… lame! My first impressions were killer, huh?  
I rolled myself out of bed, still in my clothes from the trip out; I trudged out of my room to investigate the group’s mood since my little moment. It was quiet… it was never quiet in this house unless people were sleeping. I looked around as I got to the living room and frowned, no one was to be seen. I searched for a note of explanation to where they might all be but found none. How odd, it was still daylight so no one was asleep. I wandered over to the grumps recording room and pressed my ear against the door. I wasn’t about to barge in on their recording if they were in there. There was no noise so I quietly poked my head through the door and no grumps were to be seen, but of course- the silence already answered that, I just had to make sure.  
I hummed out in annoyance and continued my search. Someone had to be in the basement at least, that’s where all the animation and editing was done. I tip-toed down the steps of the basement as saw Barry sat at his little work space, his back facing me and zoned out of the world too much as to hear my footsteps so I crept over to him and place my hands on his shoulders with a quiet ‘boo’.  
He practically jumped out of his skin, emitting a ‘neeuuugh!’ noise of distress and swiveling round on his chair to face me, eyes wide in panic. I however was laughing so I hard I was finding trouble to stand up straight. “Jesus Barry, you act like I just caught you watching porn.” I snickered out, patting his head.  
He shook his head, now calming down from the little spook I gave him and spoke.  
“You’re up early” he smiled at me, causing me to now to go wide-eyed.   
“Early? Why is it early?” I frowned to him, face full of confusion.  
“Well… 7am is usually considered early here.” He stated, swiveling on his chair to gesture at the clock on the wall. “I don’t know how they standardize things in England but…”  
“Shit I slept through the whole day and night?” I gasped out, now glancing down at my clothing and grimacing. I’d worn this all day now and I’m just strutting round in it like a tramp? “Well damn.”  
“Yeah, you were really out of it.” Busy nodded, standing up from his chair. “Suzy was on the phone to a doctor describing your symptoms.” He added with a small chuckle. “Come on, you’ve got a mini prescription upstairs.”   
With that, he gestured for me to follow him upstairs, to which I complied with no fuss, curious as to what prescription I was meant to have. “Have I been poked and prodded in my sleep by a doctor?” I mumbled out, embarrassment clear in my voice as we ascended the stairs.  
“No.” Barry chuckled out. “The doctor on the phone said to get you taking some pills full of nutrients for a few days seeing as the sun sort of… drained you completely of your vitamins.” He shrugged, leading me to the kitchen. He pulled open a drawer and grabbed a small tub, offering it out to me. “Take one every morning and night, no more skipping breakfast and no more prolonged time in the sun.”  
“Yes Doctor Barry.” I nodded, followed by a playful salute of mockery.  
He rolled his eyes but smiled all the same as he spoke. “I’m serious Izzy. I don’t want to be carrying you back in the house or worse- the hospital.”  
I nodded to him, understanding this situation was more serious than what I was letting on in my attitude. “Don’t worry, I’m responsible. So how come you’re here so early?” I asked, wandering about the kitchen in search for cereal.  
“Oh I stayed the night on the couch.” He nodded, walking over to one specific cupboard and opening it to reveal the cereal without me even asking. He just knew. “I do that a lot.” He shrugged, moving out the way so I could pick out a cereal and pour myself a bowl. “I would usually sleep in the spare room but you stole it.” He remarked with a cheeky grin, reaching over to poke my side.  
I giggled, recoiled back a bit and away from his hand. “Well I’m sorry, you could’ve dumped my ass on the sofa yesterday and claimed the bed as yours for a night.” I stated with a shrug, taking seat at the bar in the kitchen and starting on my breakfast. Barry did the same with some toast after a few moments, causing my tummy to grumble out. “Ugh, now I want toast.” Barry offered me his slice of buttered toast, still untouched but I shook my head. “It’s okay, I don’t want to stuff my face.”  
“No, no. By all means, stuff it. Doctors orders.” He replied, shoving the plate of toast towards me. “I’ll make some more.”  
“By doctors orders did you mean you or the actual doctor?” I chuckled, taking a bite of the toast and humming out in delight. Who knew toast could taste so good.  
“The actual doctor said to make sure you keep getting vitamins in you and you don’t skip meals. So I figured if you’re hungry, just eat it. No one is gonna label you a piggy here.” He smiled over to me, leaning against the counter.  
“How was everyone else after I went to dreamland?” I sighed out, propping my elbows up on the countertop.   
“They were worried, yeah.” He nodded. “But what could they do? You’d already passed out, we just had to wait.”  
“I hate that I ruined everyone’s day yesterday.” I frowned, taking another bite of my toast. Barry returned back to sit at the bar with his new batch of toast, nudging me with his elbow lightly.  
“You didn’t ruin anyone’s day. Everyone is happy to know you’re going to be okay and that you didn’t end up in hospital.” he smiled softly to me, trying to lift my spirits. I cracked a smile- his own being very infectious it seemed.  
“But I heard someone arguing when I was put in the car?” I asked, tilting my head at him.  
“Oh you did?” he pulled a grimacing face. “What did you hear?”  
“Nothing specific. Just the raised voices.” I shrugged, finishing off my toast and taking the bowl and plate to the sink. “That’s when I went out of it fully I guess.”  
“Oh it was just over if we should take you to the hospital. Also a bit of insisting that some people stay and enjoy the rest of the day but nope; we were all too worried about you.” I pulled a sulking face, leaning into Barry and resting my head on his shoulder, emitting a noise of shame and embarrassment. I received a comforting pat on the back from him, which turned to some soothing rubs whilst he spoke. “The main thing is you’re okay. You’re going to be living in the State so there’ll be plenty of time to visit parks with us, hmm?”  
“Yeah, I guess.” I smiled. “Did you want to keep working on stuff? Don’t let me interrupt your work.”  
“Oh no, no.” he protested, waving his hand dismissively. “There’s no rush to it, I was just doing some thumbnails for some episodes seeing as no one was up.”  
“Well in that case you won’t mind if I declare you’re gonna be kissing my feet when I kick your butt at Smash Bros.”   
“Oh you’re on.” He grinned as we finished up in the kitchen and headed to the grump room, setting up the game.  
“Rules are, don’t pick fucking Kirby, I swear to god.” I laughed out, trying to sound serious but failing.  
“Okay deal.” He nodded in agreement as we sat down on the infamous Grumps couch and began the game. We played for a while just beating on each others characters, slandering each other’s skill and just general trash talking until Barry spoke up on a more serious note. “So what was your family like when you said you were moving?”  
“Oh my dad was all ‘I’ll meet you there when I retire’.” I giggled, keeping my eyes locked on the game. “I mean, they got all teary-eyed and they were going to miss me but I’m a big girl now.”  
“What about your friends? Will they be coming to visit or a … boyfriend?” he asked, trailing off a little bit. “Or girlfriend? No judgment.” He quickly added on the end.  
“Oh uh boyfriend but uhm… not boyfriend I guess?” I blinked in confusion of my own sentence, realizing I didn’t make much sense. “I mean, I would have my sexual preference of a boyfriend but I don’t have one. Friends might visit at some point but it’s across the world so I understand if that’s not for a long time.”  
I saw Barry nodding out the corner of my eye, he too fixed on the fight we were having in-game. “Well that’s good then… that you didn’t have any arguments with people over moving. I know it can be a heartbreaking thing for friends moving so far away.”  
“Yeah, thankfully I didn’t have something too distressing. I mean, I did have one friend guilt-tripping me over leaving but ehh, it’s my choice and it didn’t bother me too much.” I shrugged, shuffling to get more comfortable on the sofa.  
“Oh, it’s sucks people would try to talk you out of leaving. But I’m glad you did move.” Barry smiled, turning his head away from the game to look at me and I did the same, smiling back at him. “I mean, Suzy talked about you non-stop and all the things you did as kids so it’s great to finally meet you.”  
“Yeah?” I hummed in amusement to which Barry nodded in confirmation. “Well it’s great to finally meet the Impeccable Barry.” I laughed out, nodding my head to him as if I were bowing.  
“Did you maybe want to have a quick tour of the town today?” Barry asked as we started up a new match. “Figured you’d want to know where the closest Starbucks was.” He grinned.  
I laughed a little, nodding in agreement. “Well yeah, you’ve sealed the deal with Starbucks. But yeah, it’d be nice for a tour of this place.”  
“Do you have the address of where you’re going to be living?” he asked, quirking a brow. “We could go there and sort of map out how far away it is from here and mine and Danny’s place.”  
“Yeah that could be fun, thanks.” I smiled.  
We continued our games for a while with me slaying Barry a few time before Arin poked his head into to investigate the noise from the Grump room. “Oh hey, you’re alive.” He noted to me, smiling and ruffling my hair. “You feeling okay?”  
“Yeup, I’m good. Under the doctors orders.” I grinned, jabbing a thumb towards Barry.  
“Okay well the showers free, both me and Suzy are up now.” He nodded at my attire, reminding me that I was still in yesterday’s clothes.  
It got to around 11am when Barry and me were heading out. Suzy had spent the morning fussing over me and repeating all the things the doctor had said, constantly asking if I’d drank enough water between her work tasks for the day. She was prepping for some bug pinning stuff, so she was back and forth with boxes all morning.  
Barry drove me first to my soon to be home, pinning in the address on the satnav. It was about a twenty minute drive away from Arin and Suzy’s house and ironically reasonably close to Barry and Dan’s apartment. We then headed off further into the shopping district, pulling into a drive-thru and grabbing lunch. Whilst we were waiting for our food to arrive in the line of cars now queued up, I found myself watching Barry out the corner of my eyes. He was staring at me for a whole minute not saying anything so I turned my head only for him to avert his gaze quickly away. “What were you staring at?” I asked with a soft giggle following.  
“What?” he blinked, trying to play the oblivious card but I wasn’t buying it.  
“You were staring at me.” I stated, smirking at him.  
“Was I?” he shrugged, though a playful grin remained on his face as he glanced around anywhere but at me.  
“There something on my face I should know about?” I quirked, folding my arms.  
“Nope.” He shook his head, pouting out his lip, still playing the innocent.  
We finally got our food and set off out of the drive-thru and around the streets once more. I was shown my beloved Starbucks location where we pulled in on the curb to grab drinks before starting on lunch in the car.   
“It’s nice to have a car buddy for once.” Barry chuckled out between bites of his burger.  
“Car buddy?” I tilted my head in questioning.  
“Yeah, the guys usually need late night snacks, coffee and stuff” he began. “So I would go on runs to get some burgers whilst they’re recording.”   
“Oh that’s kinda shitty. You get so lonesome~” I cooed at him before pouting out my bottom lip. “Nah but seriously, if you need to go on some late night runs whilst I’m around, feel free to invite me.” I shrugged, taking a sip of my coffee.  
“You prepared to take an oath for that?” he smirked at me. “Some of these runs happen at like 3am, y’know?”  
“Well jeez, now I feel complied to join you even more.” I laughed out.  
“Oh I’m glad that didn’t scare you away then. So uhm, besides Spyro which is your obvious favorite game, what else do you like?” he asked, shuffling a bit in his seat to face me.  
“Oh uh… any Pokémon game ever?” I grinned but then raised a finger to object to myself. “Except Pokémon Ranger. I-… I have no idea what that game was.”  
We laughed and joked, sharing our favourite things for a while whilst we ate our lunch. We arrived back at the Grumps house, laughing away as we walked through the door only to face Dan now smirking at the two of us. “Well, well, well…” he mused, folding his arms across his chest.  
“Well!” added in Ross as he poked his head out from seemingly nowhere.  
“…Well!” followed Arin with a cheeky smirk. “This is the second time you two have snuck off together. Something you’re not telling us?”  
“What?” I gasped out. “We didn’t SNEAK out.”  
“Yeah, we said before we left multiple times that I was taking her on a mini tour. Checking out how close her house was.” Barry added in.  
“Oh, so you’re prepared to take the alone time to the next level once her house is ready” snickered Dan, jabbing a finger into Barry’s side to tease him further.  
Barry turned bright red, flinching at the jabs and mumbling out his protests. Dan just laughed out even more, continuing on his teasing jab-spree.  
“Jesus, guys.” I laughed along; any sympathy for Barry was far-gone now. “We just went for a tour of the town and got lunch. I’ve never been to LA before y’know.”  
“Lunch?” Arin asked, a cheeky grin crawling on his face. “Like a…”  
“Date?” Dan interrupted, slinking an arm around Barry’s neck to pull him into the noogie position and applying such. Barry squirmed in his headlock, whining out and flailing his arms. “You guys went on a date!” he declared out loud, causing Suzy to appear out of her room.  
“Who went on a date?” she asked, quirking a brow at the scene.  
“Barry and Izza did!” Ross shouted, pointing a finger at the two of us.  
“No-… gah! Get off me!” Barry cried out, finally pulling himself free from Dan at long last. “I told you where we were going, Suzy. Be the voice of reason here.” He whined to her.  
“Sorry, you’re on your own~” she sang out, heading back to her work.  
“Fine, whatever. I’m going to get some editing done. I’m gonna be super cruel about it too.” Barry huffed out, heading to the basement. This only caused the guys to spurt out another round of giggles between them. I just rolled my eyes, wandering off to my room.  
“You going down to the basement for some fun time?” Arin called after me, I just flipped him the bird, continuing on my way. “Hey, I’m just making sure I don’t walk in on anything!”  
Sighing out, I prepared myself for a part of my vlog and started recording. I gave updates as to what I was doing and my plans before shutting it off. My big computer I did the editing on was being shipped here with the rest of my furniture so I’d have to use the grumps equipment hopefully. I wandered down to the basement and found Barry still busy at work. I smiled, tilting my head and observing him lost in his own little world. He was slumped forward in his chair, one elbow propping his head up and clicking away with the other hand. I crept closer to him yet he still hadn’t noticed me as I was now stood right beside him.  
I took the opportunity to keep staring at him, observing every part of his posture and appearance. He was so scruffy looking yet it worked for him, he was cute there was no denying that.  
“What are YOU staring at?” he asked, making me jump out of my skin as he turned to face me, laughing a little at my reaction.  
“Gah-… Sorry. I was seeing how long I could go before you noticed me.” I grinned.  
“Senpai noticed you.” He chuckled out. “What did you come down here for?”  
“Oh I needed to edit my vlog and then post it up, can I use one of the computers?” I asked, glancing around the multiple computer set-ups in the room.  
“Why not just give it to me? I’ll do it no problem.” He smiled to me, gesturing for me to hand him the SD card I was clutching to.  
“No~” I objected, making sure to hold the card out of his reach. He just stood up, trying to grab at it as I held it behind my back. “No, you’re not getting it.” I stated, trying to keep it away from him. Barry grabbed at my arm, easily pulling it out so he could get to the card, now trying to pry open my hand, finger by finger. “Nyyeeaaaa!” I cried out, knowing he was about to get it. I twisted round, now with my back facing him as I yanked my arm back into myself with Barry’s hand still attached, now causing him to be pulled fully against me. It made my heart flutter a bit being in such close contact with him but we were both so caught up in the midst of our little wrestle for the memory card to be embarrassed about it. Barry resorted to tickling my sides, making me shriek out in a giggle fit as it seemed Barry no longer cared for grabbing the card, only to torture me more with tickles. “Damn it, st-… stah! Stop! Please~” I cried, still laughing away despite the aches in my stomach from laughing so much. “I can feel a six-pack coming on! Stop!”  
Barry grinned, seeming satisfied with his tickle-damage, he stopped. “I’m sorry, your laugh was so cute” he gushed out before blushing bright red again. “Uh… I’m sorry.” He smiled, scratching at the back of his neck.  
“Don’t be.” I smiled sheepishly, glancing down at my feet. “It was a compliment to me, right? Unless you didn’t mean to compliment me…”   
“No, no! I mean-… Yes.” Barry face-palmed, groaning out as he kept stumbling over his own words. I found it adorable just watching him scrabble a sentence together like that. I gave him a pat on the shoulder, offering a smile of reassurance. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound like an idiot…” he trailed off.  
“You don’t.” I giggled. “It’s cute.”   
“Cute?” he gulped, going a little wide eyed and regaining the blush in his cheeks.  
“Uhuh. Cute.” I confirmed, smiling brightly at him. I decided to avert the topic back to the task at hand to ease his nerves. “So about that editing…”  
“I’m still gonna do it.” He stated.  
“No, you’re meant to edit for the Game grumps. I don’t wanna be more of a mooch than I already am right now.” I shook my head.  
“Do I have to tickle it from you?” he asked, quirking a brow.  
“No-… ahh!” I screamed in protest but he’d already grabbed me by the waste, pulling me close and began the tickle-assault on my sides whilst keeping me still.   
We heard a throat being cleared by the staircase, making us stop fighting instantly and look to find everyone watching us with amused faces.   
“Soo…”


	7. Work and Payoffs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOMygosh it's been a while since the last chapter! I got so stumped for ideas and was worried of falling into cliches so I let things mull over in my head a few times before I was finally happy with it! Hope you guys enjoy it and that it was worth the wait?

After a lot more teasing from the gang and finally being forced to give up my memory card to Barry so he could fix it up for me, I was now cooped up in the living room, playing games silently by myself whilst recording was going on. Every now and then I’d hear Dan and Arin laughing in the other room, which would crack a smile for me. Their laughs were so infectious.  
Barry emerged from the basement at one point, muttered that he’d put up my video and hurried off to the kitchen without saying another word. I blinked repeatedly; feeling terribly confused so followed him into the kitchen. He was pouring himself a glass of juice when I spoke up. “Hey.”  
Barry visibly jumped out of his skin, spilling some of the drink across the countertop and groaning. “Woah. You okay there?” I asked, edging closer to him as he began wiping up the mess, still avoiding eye contact with me. He nodded rapidly, taking his drink and leaving, muttering something about having to finish some work. I chuckled to myself, now cottoning on to what was happening here; he was avoiding any further teasing that came with the two of us being caught alone together. Shaking my head, I wandered towards Suzy’s room, hoping to pitch some future video ideas to her.  
“Hey Suze,” I chimed, poking my head through her door. She was currently stationed at her little desk with a mirror, working on her hair with some curlers.  
She could see me through the mirror’s reflection and so made eye contact that way as she spoke; “What’s up?”  
“I had an idea for a collab video we could do together?” I smiled, stepping fully through the door.  
“Okay, shoot.” She nodded, gesturing me to come closer.  
“I was thinking we could do a make-up swap… Review them after using them in place of our regulars for like… a week or something?” I smiled, taking to fidgeting with some of her various beauty products scattered about the place.  
“Yeah, that sounds like a fun idea. You’re not allergic to any chemicals on skins are you?”  
“Nah, my skin is tough as a rock… Erhm, metaphorically speaking.” I smiled, poking at my own cheek. “It reality it’s super smooth.”  
“Alright super smooth, it’s a deal.” She grinned. “I send out an order of cream in your color, grab some fake lashes and nails, some eyeliner. Oh and some creams for pre make-up applying!”  
“Wow, nails and eyelashes too, huh?” I nodded slowly, folding my arms. “Alright, and at the end of the week you have to compare each to what you’re used to and state which is better. If you like one of mine, it’s a point for me.”  
“Deal” she agreed, extending a hand out to me for us to shake on it. We did so, bowing our heads before I left her to her prepping.   
Wandering around the house, I found Barry perched on the sofa with a laptop for company. I smiled, tiptoeing over to him and taking place next to the fuzzy editor. “Wha’cha doing?”  
“Urh-… I was Uh-… Just watching some animated Game Grumps from the fans.” He gestured to the screen, smiling awkwardly and barely making eye-contact.  
“Oh cool” I nodded, leaning extra-close to him to observe the screen as he pressed play. We stayed in that position for a few videos, feeling him slowly relax his posture as we went on, remaining in silence apart from the odd laughs we’d have from the videos. By now I was resting fully against his shoulders, almost leaning my head on him but he’d fully relaxed in our current position.  
We ended up watching an animated clip, which talked on some childhood story from the grumps, causing me to chuckle as my own memories filled my head. Barry turned to me, a half smile in amusement of my own giggles it seemed. “What are you laughing at?”  
“Oh” I waved my hand dismissively, shaking my head. “I just thought of some funny memories as a kid.”  
Barry grinned, shuffling more and setting the laptop down on the floor, ready to listen apparently as he nodded for me to go on. “Let’s hear it?”  
“Okay, it was back in like… fifth grade, I think?” I pondered to myself, scrunching up my face in thought. “I was bouncing a pencil on the rubber bit at the end and the sharp bit went jamming up into my hand, wedging itself… right… there.” I demonstrated, pointing at my hand. “It’s left a pencil line permanently. I went to hospital, there was no poisoning.” I shrugged.  
Barry winced, leaning close to inspect my old wound and tilting his head. “And why is this funny?” he quirked, eyes glancing to me briefly before back down to my old scarring.  
“Because; When a classmate asked me the following week how I did it… I demonstrated… and did it again.”   
Barry burst into a fit giggles with me swiftly following along with him. “Seriously?” he squeaked out, not even waiting for my answer before he burst out laughing again. I simply nodded, my face scrunched up and practically wheezing out my laughs by now. Arin and Dan emerged from the Grump room, curious to see what got us giggling so much but we couldn’t find the air to give a reply.  
“You guys okay?” Danny asked, not really expecting an answer as he stood on, watching in amusement. “I don’t mean to be the downer but we are trying to record in there…” he added, rubbing the back of his head. I let out a big breath to calm myself; breathing slowly and wiping away the odd tear building up. I was recovering from the fits… Only as soon as Barry and me made eye contact again, we just ended up laughing all over again. “Ugghh!” Danny cried out, throwing his hands up in the air. “I’m grabbing a snack whilst these two dorks calm down.” He announced before heading into the kitchen. Arin followed, though kept watching us in amusement before he disappeared.  
We eventually calmed down, Barry now declaring that his stomach hurt and whining slightly. “Wow, you’re a smart one, aren’t you?” he grinned at me, sighing out the last of the giggle fits.  
“Oh come on!” I called out as he stood up. “You can’t say you’ve never done something ridiculously stupid?”  
Barry seemed to ponder the thought for a moment before shaking his head and shrugging. “Nope” he declared, stretching his body a bit and grinning down at me. I snorted in disbelief, folding my arms and declaring him a liar, to which he held his hands up in defense. “I’ve never done something as stupid as accidently stabbing myself with a pencil…. Twice.” He laughed out, poking me in the cheek as I pouted.  
“I’m definitely sharing that one with the subscribers… I bet they’ve got some stupid stories to tell!” I nodded, mostly reassuring myself at this point. No doubt I was finding any way to defend myself from my own stupidity.  
“And I’m not doubting that.” Barry smiled down at me. “You should pick out your favorites from their responses and give your reaction” he added, offering me a hand to pull me up.  
“Yeah…” I hummed out, toying the idea round in my head. “I like that, I’d better start writing all my plans down… Got a lot of things mulling over in my head currently.”  
“You could have us share a funny childhood thing?” he suggested as I stood up.   
“Oh, yeah?” I quirked up a brow, now interested in what he’d have to share. “And what would your funny story be?”  
“I used to think that a Barbeque was a line of Barbie dolls all waiting for something” he grinned shyly at me.  
“Pffftt--…” I burst into a fresh round of laughter, dropping halfway down to the floor as I buckled slightly in my new fits of giggles. “Wow, okay. Would you be willing to say that to the people of youtube?”  
“Yeup.” He declared, looking very confident in himself. Proud he got a laugh out of me it seemed.  
“I need to set up a Barbie-queue now, just to mock you.” I snickered.   
“Wait an actual barbeque or my child-self’s version of it?” he quirked, giving me a cheeky grin.   
“Both.” I stated, folding my arms. “I’m going to get a line of barbies, lining up next to a Barbeque with some already on it… in a queue!”  
“Barbeque-ception!” Barry declared before we both let out an inception ‘bwwauuuahhh’ at the same time, followed by more giggles.  
At this point, Dan came out of the kitchen and crying out; ‘God just kiss already!’ before storming off back into the grump room over dramatically for effect, leaving us and Arin stood there in both confusion and amusement. Barry of course now going pink again, poor guy couldn’t get a break could he?   
“Right well… I’m gunna go do editing stuff” Barry mumbled before heading off back down to the basement.   
“More to do already?” I quirked with a small grin.  
“We’re heading down to Houston for a Con, then visiting friends in Ireland for a week and then back to SDCC” he shrugged as if it were nothing, however my eyebrows were raised high in interest to all these sudden trips. “I’ve gotta queue up a lot of things ready for our absence at home…” he trailed off.  
“Don’t worry, you’re not going to be completely alone.” Arin added in, flashing a smile at me. “After Houston, Dan will be coming back up to LA until we come back from Ireland.”  
“Oh that’s cool, would you want us to watch Mimi and Mochi?” I smiled, peering down at Mimi who was lingering around my feet currently.  
“Would you?” he asked, actually sounding concerned. No doubt worry for imposing something on me.  
“It’s fine, you let me stay here so I’ll return the favour” I beamed at Arin before turning my attention to Mimi and picked her up, cradling her to my chest. “Plus I get quality time to spend with the cutest kitties in the world~” I cooed to Mimi, giving her some light scratches on her head. “I’mma steal her.” I added quickly before carrying her away with me to the couch.  
“You don’t steal Mimi, Mimi steals you.” Barry stated with a sage nod.   
“Of course she does, and I go willingly.” I nodded back at him before returning to my baby-talking at Mimi. “She’s so cute I’m going to die before you guys get back from Ireland.”  
“So you’re okay with us leaving so soon to you moving here?” Arin asked, his tone turning soft like he was treading on thin ice. I simply shook my head, smiling up at him from the couch.  
“Hey, it’s your guys who are in the loss here.” I chuckled, “I get to snuggle Mimi all day.”  
“Fair point.” Arin nodded in agreement. “Right, I’m off to record some more stuff. Let Suzy know about your plans to watch this place whilst we gone.” He added before disappearing into the grump room.  
“Right Barry-bare, lets get this editing done.” I declared, standing up and saluting him.  
“Barry-bear-wha’?...” he blinked in confusion. “Wait, no. No- you’re not doing the editing.” He stated, folding his arms like a scolding father.  
“And why not? I do all my own editing and you said you need to go on a spree to fill up the weeks whilst you’re gone. So why not double the horse power?” I tilted my head at him, not taking no for an answer.  
“But you’re a-…”  
“Nope, shush. I’m helping. I’ve not got anything better to do other than stare at Mimi.” I chuckled, heading down to the basement with Barry following behind me.  
So we spent the next few hours, sitting through loads of footage, editing silly images where demanded along with replays and the odd Burgie floating across the screen. I ended up laughing a lot whilst sitting through the episodes, taking a breather when needed. Barry would watch me giggling with my headphones on; I could see him watching out the corner of my eyes. He never asked what it was I was laughing at; just watch me silently with an amused smirk on his face. It got to quite late on when Suzy came down to tell us dinner was ready. I frowned, not realizing how late it had gotten. I had intentions to help Suzy with the dinner tonight but I guess those plans had gone out the window.  
Dinner again went with ridiculous, yet funny conversational topics as well as plans for the upcoming weeks, ending in me doing the washing up in return for the lovely meal and refusing help this time. After dinner, everyone gathered in the living room, watching a whole bunch of films until, one by one, people declared themselves tired and headed off to bed. Barry and Dan driving home and now leaving me stumped for what to do. My body clock was still off, so I wasn’t tired yet.   
I wandered back down to the basement, Mochi following me (with some struggle with those stumpy legs until I carried him the rest of the way) to my allocated desk and started on some more episodes to save Barry some trouble tomorrow. Again I lost track of time, slumping over the desk at some ungodly hour of the morning and drifting off to sleep right there.

Barry’s P.O.V  
I decided to head over early to Arin and Suzy’s the next morning, wanting to get started right away on the editing. I woke Dan up (eventually) and we set off to the Grumps house, deciding on having breakfast there. Dan texted Arin to let him know we were on our way so the door was unlocked when we got there. Both Arin and Suzy were up already and busy with work tasks but there was no sign of Izza. She must still be sleeping. I shrugged and headed into the kitchen, preparing some toast and then heading down to the basement where I found Izza with half her body perched over the desk, completely out of it. I couldn’t resist snapping a photo before I went over and shook her lightly, causing her to stir quite quickly as she jolted upward, making me have to jump back a bit to avoid a collision. “Woah there…” I chuckled, placing a reassuring hand on her back, patting her. “Please tell me you woke up like an hour ago and just fell back to sleep…”  
“Nope.” She flashed me a goofy grin, looking real proud of herself. Izza started stretching out her limbs and yawning before standing up. “I wasn’t tired so I did some more editing.” She shrugged.  
“How much more?” I asked cautiously, eyes narrowing, more so in a teasing manner than anything else.  
“Erhm…” she pondered the idea but then resorted to actually turning the monitor on to reveal she’d done almost all of it. There was only two episodes unedited left. “That much” she smiled proudly.  
“Izza…” I groaned out, rubbing at my forehead. “You really shouldn’t have…”  
“You’re welcome to watch them through incase you’re worried I mucked them up.” She replied, gesturing for me to take a seat. I shook my head however; I had full trust in her.   
“It’s okay, I’m just worried about you staying up all night doing my work. You really shouldn’t have…” I sighed out, though flashing her a smile of appreciation. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful. You just did so much already yesterday.”  
“Don’t talk silly.” She waved a hand dismissively and started heading up the stairs. “You deserved a load off your shoulders” she smiled at me before heading up and leaving me to what little was left. Just two episodes and then I was caught up and waiting on the guys to record more footage. I’d need to thank Izza properly somehow…

Izza’s P.O.V  
I could tell it was rare that someone went out of their way to help Barry out, especially with editing. I understood that people had their own commitments of course, they’d thank him in other ways but I think that was the first time he had his work done for him. He look so overwhelmed with happiness but was trying to hide it and sound stern towards me but I saw right through it. His eyes were screaming a thank you to me but he’s just so modest to accept most help offered to him. It brought a smile to my face that he could have a break for the day, perhaps I could whip his butt some more at Smash Bros.  
I went through my morning routines of washing up and doing the make-up and chowing down some breakfast and planned to head into town to get some make-up for Suzy’s and mine swap challenge. Thankfully Barry was already done with the last of the editing and sat in the living room so I decided I’d ask him…  
“Hey, Barry? Mind if you uhm… drove me to a mall? I got some stuff to pick up” I smiled sheepishly at him, tilting my weight from my heels to my toes.  
“Oh yeah, sure” he smiled up at me, standing up and grabbing his keys off the coffee table. “You ready to go right now or… did you want to later?”  
“Now’s fine” I beamed at him. “The sooner the better.”  
“Alright then lets go!”  
It took us about fifteen minutes to get to the mall and we spent the entire time there just blasting the Starbomb album, singing along like goofs. When we pulled into the parking lot and got out, Barry asked; “What is it you’re getting here exactly?”  
“Make-up for this thing me and Suze are doing and some gifts for her and Arin as thanks for letting me stay. I was going to make them a meal tonight, so could we stop by a grocery store on the way back?” I sighed out in awe as we headed into the mall, I’d forgotten how big American malls could be.  
“Sure we can, want any help with the cooking?” Barry smiled at me, looking very eager as always to help out.  
“No, this treat is for all of you. You just sit back and enjoy.” I replied, giving him a stern furrowed brow, though my smile gave away my teasing. “I think I’ll start in here, get all the make-up stuff done first.”  
“Sure” he nodded. “If you don’t mind, I gotta get something myself so I’ll leave you to the girly stuff.” Barry then pulled out his phone and handed it to me. “Put your number in there, I’ll text you when I’m done” he instructed and I did as asked before offering his phone back to him with my contact now added, complete with a dumb selfie for my contact picture. Barry laughed out and nodded in approval of his new contact and headed off into the further shops of the busy mall whilst I started on my make-up hunt. Some stuff I would have to order online but my usual foundations, eyelashes and nails would be here.   
I’d done with the beauty products shopping and wandered into a few odd stores, finding something silly for Arin’s gift and then finding the perfect gothic styled ornament for Suzy. As I was paying for the gifts, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket; that would be Barry no doubt. I opened up my phone, telling him I was done with everything so I’d just head to his car and he’d meet me there. Seemed I beat him there as I wandered about aimlessly, trying to figure out which car was his before I heard a sharp whistle to catch my attention. He was stood, leaning on the hood of his car and waving me over.  
“Lost?” he grinned at me, making me shove him playfully before climbing in the car, setting the shopping in the back seat. “Did you get everything you needed?” he asked me and we buckled ourselves in and set off towards the grocery store. “Yeah I did, what about you?” I smiled at him.  
“Mhm, took a while to decide but I got the perfect… thing” he nodded at me briefly before returning his eyes back to the road.  
“What’s the ‘thing’ then?” I chuckled softly, taking to looking through the glove compartment in front of me, having a good nosey.  
“A gift for my brother, his birthday is coming up” he replied as we pulled in outside a grocery store. “We go to this place for all our shopping. I know it’s only small but the prices are great for all your fresh produce needs.” He added as we got out the car again. Shopping around for everything for the meal didn’t take too long, I picked up an assortment of veggies, meat and dairy products I’d need as well as a bottle of champagne. I was keeping it classy.   
Once we got back to the Grump house, I placed everything in the fridge that needed to be kept cool and left the other things in one little corner, alerting Suzy that I’d be cooking for everyone tonight, including Ross and Holly. Suzy tried to protest but seeing as I’d already bought the ingredients, she had no choice to agree. “You’re a sneaky pest, Izzums” she declared before having to head out somewhere.  
“Hey Izza?” spoke Barry, his voice full of caution which perked my interests.  
“Yeah?” I quirked a brow up, slightly worried over what he was about to say, except he didn’t say anything, just offered up a small bag tied with a ribbon and labeled ‘Pandora’. “Oh you did not!” I gasped, my brow furrowing as he just stood there smiling stupidly. “Barry! These are expensive, what did you get this for?”  
“Well uhmm… I just wanted to thank you for all the work you did for me” he grinned at me, awaiting me to open the bag. “I noticed you had a Pandora charm bracelet so I thought this would be a nice edition…”  
I sighed in defeat, opening up the bag and prying open the little box. Inside there was a little silver kitty charm sat nicely with the ribbons weaved in it. I grinned wide, taking the charm and attaching it to my bracelet. “Thank you, Barry. You’re too sweet” I chuckled, receiving only playful scoffs of denial from him. Once again, he was too modest. I shook my head, stepping towards him and pulling him into a hug. “Thank you. Really.” I heard him laugh out awkwardly, returning the hug after a moment.  
“You’re the one in need of all the thanks, you’ve saved me a heap of work today” he sighed out in content whilst we were still hugging. I chuckled out, giving him one final squeeze of the hug before stepping back.   
“No more surprise gifts, though. Okay?” I frowned playfully, a smirk tugging at my lips.  
“Okay.”


End file.
